PREMIER LEAGUE

clubs are turning to players to provide content from training grounds for their websites and social media platforms. That follows the decision by many clubs not to include press officers in the first wave of employees allotted virus tests, thereby allowing them into the inner sanctum of the training ground. ‘They can carry on for as long as they like,’ mused one staff member, perhaps glad of the extended break at a time of year when they are usually most busy.

RUSSIA’S Olympic speed-skating champion Svetlana Zhurova knows how to kick a man when he’s down. Soon after International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach’s BBC interview, in which he said next year’s rearranged Olympics could be cancelled due to the pandemic, the favourites to host the 2032 Games, Brisbane, declared they were putting their bid on hold indefinitely. Zhurova (left) then took to Russian media, questioning if there would even be a need for the IOC should Tokyo be canned. With their huge new headquarters on the shores of Lake Geneva housing over 500 staff, it is a question others may begin to ask.

IT MAy not have gone down well with Sky supremo Stephen van Rooyen that Premier League chief executive Richard Masters opted to do an exclusive interview with the BBC’s Dan Roan when major clubs hope they can avoid a substantial rebate to broadcasters including Sky Sports. After being contacted by Sports Agenda both Sky and the Premier League claimed there were ‘no issues’. However, Roan’s coup sparked anger among those who work in Sky’s newsroom, while BT Sport and major international partner beIN IN would also be entitled to feel aggrieved. It is believed Masters (right) is set to speak to Sky later this week, when the picture over the return of football may well be clearer.